- The commercial value of unprocessed wool is determined by its intrinsic quality; an indication of capacity to meet both processor and consumer demands. Wool quality is evaluated through routine assessment of characteristics that include mean fibre diameter, coefficient of variation, staple characteristics, comfort factor, spinning fineness, fibre curvature and clean fleece yield. The association between these characteristics with wool quality stems from their correlation with raw wool processing performance in terms of speed, durability, ultimate use as apparel or carpet wool, and consumer satisfaction with the end-product. An evaluation of these characteristics allows wool quality to be objectively quantified prior to purchase and processing. The primary objective of this review was to define and explore these aforementioned key wool characteristics, focusing on their impact on quality, desirable parameters and methodology behind their quantification. An in-depth review of relevant published literature on these wool characteristics in sheep is presented. more »
- Woolgrower Tom Small from St Arnaud Victoria is putting his shearing practices on the line to help other woolgrowers save money by making small on-farm changes. He is one of five woolgrowers featured in a new DVD ‘Pick of the Draft’ produced by Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) and Australian Wool Exchange (AWEX). The DVD puts hard dollar values on poor sheep management and shearing practices and estimates the money that can be saved through simple improvements. more »
- Woolgrower Grant Borchardt from Tara, Queensland, is putting his shearing practices on the line to help other woolgrowers save money through small, on-farm changes. He is one of five woolgrowers featured in a new DVD ‘Pick of the Draft’ produced by Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) and Australian Wool Exchange (AWEX). The DVD puts hard dollar values on poor sheep management and shearing practices and estimates the money that can be saved through simple improvements. more »
- Woolgrower Bob McFarland near Hay in New South Wales is putting his shearing practices on the line to help other woolgrowers save money by making small on-farm changes. He is one of five woolgrowers featured in a new DVD ‘Pick of the Draft’ produced by Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) and Australian Wool Exchange (AWEX). The DVD puts hard dollar values on poor sheep management and shearing practices and estimates the money that can be saved through simple improvements. more »
- In 2007, following extensive industry consultation, Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) & Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) developed the Visual Sheep Scores to: • Provide the Australian sheep industry with a standardised set of visual assessment scores for the consistent description of important phenotypic traits of all breeds of sheep; • Develop a quick and simple scoring system to help sheep classers and breeders select sheep on visually-assessed traits to accelerate genetic gain; • Enable sheep breeders and classers to record and submit visual score data and genetic information to Sheep Genetics to progress development of across-flock Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBVs) for visually-assessed traits; and • Enable researchers to estimate the heritability of visually-assessed sheep traits, and to measure their relationships, if any, on important production traits such as fleece weight, fibre diameter, growth rate and body weight. more »